Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios has teamed up with Gamevil in order to bring the popular racing series to mobile devices with a new title called Project CARS GO. Shockingly, this was originally announced nearly 2.5 years ago in May of 2018. Has time really flown that quickly? Well anyway, in the time since that announcement a whole bunch of stuff has happened. Slightly Mad was acquired by legendary racing game developer Codemasters in November of last year, and just a few weeks ago they released the third entry in the Project CARS series titled, appropriately, Project CARS 3.
Except… is that actually an appropriate title? The new game has received an extremely mixed response so far for being so far out of line from the previous Project CARS games. Those were much more authentic simulation games whereas Project CARS 3 is basically a straight up arcade racer. Slightly Mad has said it is a spiritual successor to Need for Speed: Shift, which they developed for EA way back in 2009, and being that development on the game began in late 2018 it doesn’t appear that their new owner Codemasters was the driving force behind the change in tone with this third game. It’s also a weird situation because, although I haven’t played it myself, Project CARS 3 doesn’t seem to be a bad game at all, it’s just that it’s so different it’s alienating fans of the first two games who were expecting more of that. This is ever so clear in the comments section of the game’s launch trailer, which you can see below.
Anyway this is getting a bit off the topic at hand, which is the Project CARS GO mobile game. Now, just to make sure expectations are set correctly for THIS title, don’t go expecting a full-blown racing game here. While no trailer for the game has been made available just yet, Project CARS GO is described as a casual take on a racing sim with “one touch" gameplay which makes me think this is a Project CARS-ified version of something along the lines of CSR Racing. And that can be totally FINE, as long as you know what you’re in for. Gamevil is looking to do a closed beta test of Project CARS GO starting next month, and if you’re interested in partaking in this then sign-ups are open right now over at the game’s official website.
This closed beta test is for players in the US, UK, Canada and Australia on either iOS or Android, and sign-ups run from today until 11:59 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 13th. The actual beta testing will kick off the very next day on October 14th and that testing period will run until Tuesday, October 27th. If these simplified mobile racers are your cup of tea, and you like the idea of one with the extensive customization options and fleet of licensed vehicles the Project CARS series is known for, then be sure to sign up for beta testing at the link above. For those who want to wait out an official release, Project CARS GO is expected to launch before the end of this year.
